>how are 'we' articulating this crisis such that it
>might be addressed by a listserve?
>>-aaron
This discussion about what Lenin meant, etc. has been going on for 25 years
or so. It started in earnest off the Internet when Peter Camejo launched
North Star Network, a regroupment effort that eventually coalesced with
people who had liquidated Against the March. All in all, it was an effort
of ex-Maoists and ex-Trotskyists to come to terms with the implosion of the
left in the late 1970s and early 80s. As somebody who had worked closely
with Peter Camejo in this period, I saw the Internet as an opportunity to
continue this discussion. Besides myself, there are others who have
contributed to this effort, including Joaquin Bustelo who is a member of
Solidarity. Although I have some criticisms of their work, they are in the
forefront of trying to rethink these problems. So are the comrades in
Freedom Road. Eventually, the scattered independent Marxists in the USA and
the saner of the party members will find a way to launch a new party that
has absorbed the lessons of the past, which basically involve overcoming
sectarian errors. These errors can be understood as idealist flaws in the
application of Marxism, which usually revolve around fetishizing the
"correct program". They also involve schematic understandings of the
Bolshevik party.